On Wednesday, Sony posted an enormous technical FAQ that basically got into the nitty-gritty of every aspect of the system and how it works. And there were a lot of nuggets, and some annoyances, buried amid the specs and jargon. Here are ten things, ranging from odd quirks to minor annoyances, you may not know about the PS4.
It Comes With A Headset
Yes, the PS4 system comes with the Mono headset to enable out-of-the-box voice chat for online games and optional voice commands for PS4 system functions.
Well, that’s… an interesting choice. Especially since Sony notes that third-party sets might work, but no promises, kids.
It Can Support 3D, But Sony Isn’t
Sony says that the PS4 is fully capable of supporting 3D, which isn’t a surprise. What is is that Sony notes there are no plans for 3D games at launch, and none of the launch games are 3D compatible. That’s got to have the television arm of Sony less than happy.
The Dualshock 4 Can Charge In Two Hours, But That Light Bar Will Be On No Matter What
Not going to lie, that’s both handy and really, really neat. Still, the light bar being constantly on does seem to be a bit much, even if it will be used by games.
It Also Has An Integrated Speaker
Honestly, this feature might wind up being the most annoying. For example, audio diaries might be played over it instead of over the game’s audio. That might open the door to some pretty serious developer abuse.
Sony Doesn’t Want You Listening To Your Music On It
Oddly, the PS4 pretty much locks out anything that isn’t Sony’s own Music Unlimited. You can’t stream MP3s; it doesn’t support DNLA. It doesn’t support MP3s. It won’t even play back CDs. This has annoyed fans and might change, but it’s still odd.
You Have To Use A One-Time Activation To Watch Blu-Ray Movies
Either you download the day-one patch and verify it, or you can request a verification disc via, ugh, the mail. This is gets our vote for the most annoying, useless, bureaucratic feature.
You Don’t Have To Authenticate It To Play Games
You can just pop in the game and play, which is… odd considering how restrictive Sony is being about other forms of media.
Sony Doesn’t Think Publishers Will Region-Lock PS4 Games
Straight from the horse’s mouth:
“In certain instances, a software publisher may choose to region lock a game title for specific reasons, but Sony Computer Entertainment expects these instances to be uncommon.”
Yeah. We’ll see about that one.
Automatic Downloads Are Only For PS Plus Members
To be fair, this is, at best, a minor annoyance. It just means you’ll have to flip on the system. But still, it is annoying you’ve got to pay to have your games work in the most convenient way.
Sony Will Still Have That Proprietary Browser
True, nobody surfs the Internet on their PS3, and they probably won’t on the PS4. Still, come on, Sony. Just have Chrome for the thing and be done with it. The browser is WebKit based, for those curious.
Take a look at the whole thing, and let us know what you think.